I'm sure you've all heard the story of selling salt in the rain.

It's the rainy season again, and it rains every year, especially this year. There are fewer sunny days than rainy days, and the rain will last for several days, whether it is big or small, and it will last for a long time before stopping. No, the rain is starting to fall again.

Zou Lao is a craftsman who holds two national intangible cultural heritages, one of which is the craft of making rain boots by hand. However, he was not very happy, on the one hand, because he was old, sometimes he was unable to do it, his hands would tremble when making rain boots, he could not hold the needle and thread steadily, and the rain boots he made were not as perfect as before, and on the other hand, his son did not want to take over his mantle, but went to college and joined some band.

As soon as the rain began, Zou Lao slowly moved out the bamboo chair and sat at the door, sewing rain boots with stitches and threads in his hands. Zou Lao is different from others, others are stalls when the weather is sunny after the rain stops, he is different, but he puts a few rain boots on the bamboo rack when it rains, every time the neighbors go out, they will see Zou Lao selling rain boots at the door, and they will come over to chat about it, nothing more than: You come out to sell rain boots when it rains?

Mr. Zou nodded and disagreed, and continued to pinch the thin needles and long threads with trembling hands through the heavy years.

Zou Lao is a lonely old man, he is always alone, no one chats with him, only the needle and thread in his hand and rain boots can communicate with him. The passers-by around are drawn to this scene every time, whether out of curiosity or compassion. When people pick up a rain boot, they will be amazed at the delicacy of the rain boots, which are completely different from the rain boots sold in the shoe store, they are purely handmade, and the stitches on it are clearly seen.

Some people will spend a lot of money to buy it after seeing it, while some are just a passing addiction, in addition to the price is a little rejected, the color and shape are not what some people like. People love popular colors and shapes, like this quaint and traditional color and shape, it will look very old when worn. After all, rain boots are full of history.

Zou Lao didn't want to sell thousands of eight hundred, he just wanted people to remember that traditional craftsmanship could not be lost.

Pedestrians on the road raised their hands to block the rain and quickly looked for a place to hide from the rain. At this time, a tall man in a black raincoat walked over and stood beside Zou Lao to hide from the rain. The tall man is nearly two meters tall, with a black suit and a red and white tie underneath his raincoat, and his pants are presumably also black. His pale face showed that he was nervous, flustered, and cold.

It was raining so the street that you would get soaked even in a raincoat, and the tall man's raincoat was torn.

Neither of them spoke, Zou Lao buried his head in the needle, and the tall man stared closely ahead. Suddenly, a strange smell wafted out. Zou Lao sniffed, turned his head to look at the tall man, and saw red rain flowing from the tall man's feet.

Ahem, sir, you're bleeding.

Zou Lao hadn't spoken for a long time, and when he opened his mouth, he felt a breath in his lungs, and he almost choked himself.

The tall man looked down, ignored it, and continued to pestle there like a telephone pole.

Zou Lao looked at it, and he didn't care, he didn't care.

After a few minutes of silence, the tall man shook a little. Zou Lao didn't pay attention, and when he was concentrating on making the last rain boot, he only heard a pop, and the tall man who had been standing next to him fell into the rain.

Zou Lao quickly stood up, walked to him, and asked: Young man, what's wrong with you?

It was clear that the tall man had fainted. Zou is old and his legs and feet are not flexible, but he still has some strength to drag a person.

Oh, why is it so heavy?

As soon as Zou Lao grabbed the tall man's shoulder, he felt wrong, was he really old and bored, or was this guy really so heavy? Zou Lao stepped back step by step, and the grip in his hand was very strong. Zou Laodu took two steps back, and he was about to straighten up and beat his waist, feeling that the disc in his waist was about to break. The distance from the door to the inner room is only five or six meters, and Zou Lao feels that there are 10,000 meters. However, there was another thing that made Zou Lao a little difficult, the tall man was too heavy, and he couldn't lift the tall man to the bed alone. As a last resort, Zou Lao found a blanket and spread it on the ground.

Zou Lao looked inside and out, and moved a few pairs of rain boots and bamboo frames at the door first. After closing the door, Zou Lao walked into the back room, put a bamboo chair next to it, and sat on it and looked at the tall man in front of him.

Looking closely, Zou Lao realized that this tall man's head was a little strange, his forehead was flat and wrinkled, the bones of his cheeks were very prominent, his chin was pointed, his lips were thin, his nose was drooping, his eyebrows were very thin, and his eyelids were pale.

The tall raincoat has two round holes in the stomach, Zou Lao carefully unbuttoned the raincoat, opened it, and couldn't help but take a cold breath, there were two holes in the tall man's stomach, and the bright red blood flowed out of it, and now it has almost flowed out, these two wounds are nearly five centimeters in diameter, not only that, but you can also directly see the structure in the stomach, from the outside to the inside, layer by layer, and even the intestines can be seen.

Hey, doesn't this guy hurt?

Zou Lao smacked his lips and was just about to unbutton his suit, but was grabbed by a hand that suddenly raised. Zou Lao was startled and sat on the ground.

Zou Lao's heart hadn't been so nervous for a long time, and he couldn't adapt to it, and there was a pounding heartbeat in his ears.

Whew, whew, Zou Lao took a deep breath and continued to take off his clothes. After unbuttoning the suit, Zou Lao saw a flat belly, a chest with a prominent sternum, and pale as snow. Zou Lao found a clean towel, wiped the tall man's belly, and found a few balls of cotton, tweezers and alcohol. Gently wiping the wound, Zou Lao's hands began to tremble again.

Zou Lao quickly withdrew his hand and closed his eyes to calm his mood. I remember the scene of sewing the wounds of kittens and puppies in my mind. Zou Lao took a closer look and found that the wound had basically penetrated his stomach, the edges of the wound had been scorched, and there was no blood in the wound, but it was obvious that the wound was not suitable for stitching. In order to prevent the wound from becoming infected, Zou Lao found a few plasters and covered the wound. Zou Lao's plaster has the effect of reducing inflammation, relieving pain, activating blood and removing blood stasis, usually he is attached to his waist, and now it is the first time to stick it on someone else's stomach. The wound on the front is pasted, and there are two more on the back. Zou Lao turned over the tall man's body vigorously, took off his raincoat and suit, and put on a piece of clothing that his son wore.

touched the tall man's forehead and found that there was no fever, and Zou Lao was relieved. After finishing his work, Zou Lao lay down on the bamboo chair to rest, and after a while, he fell asleep.

In the dream, Zou Lao vaguely heard the sound of someone pouring water, and no one else in the house except his son would come in, thinking that there was a thief in the house, and he woke up in a panic.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the tall man sitting alone at the table, pouring himself tea and drinking, cup after cup, as if drinking water.

Sensing that Zou Lao was awake, the tall man stopped moving, stiffened there, the teacup in his hand had already been brought to his mouth, but his eyes were looking at Zou Lao.

It's okay, you drink, it's okay.

Zou Lao waved his hand, stood up and walked to the door, looking at the rain in the yard was still falling, but it was almost dark.

After the tall man drank this cup of tea, he didn't continue to drink, but stood up and walked behind Zou Lao. Zou Lao heard the footsteps and turned to look at the tall man. The tall man placed his left hand across his chest, his right hand behind his back, bowed to Zou Lao, stood up straight, and spoke.

Thank you for healing me, for saving me with your kindness, and I am so grateful.

Oh, it's okay, it's okay, you're okay.

Oh, then I won't bother you, farewell.

Well, okay, then you go slowly.

Watching the tall man put away his raincoat and walk out of the house, he turned around and nodded at Zou Lao, who also nodded in response, and saw the tall man leave. Zou Lao sighed, walked into the house, and was about to clean up, when he saw five or six pairs of rain boots in the rolled up blanket. The rain boots were almost identical to the ones he had handmade. Zou Lao picked one up and looked at it carefully, even the stitches were the same crooked, Zou Lao couldn't believe that someone could make rain boots like him. He picked up another rain boot and looked at it, the same. However, the careful Zou Lao found a strange place, he compared the two rain boots that were also his right foot, and found that not only the stitches were the same, but even the place where the bend and the position of the stitch changed direction were the same, which was simply copied, no, it was simply copied from the rain boots he had just made.

Zou Lao came to the gate and looked into the street, and the tall man was gone. Zou Lao was a little disappointed, disappointed and a little helpless. He thought he had found a successor, but he didn't expect it to be just a passerby.

After a sleep, Zou Lao forgot all his troubles and continued to sit at the door to make rain boots.

The rain fell overnight, and it is still falling, and there is no sign of stopping, and I don't know how much water is stored in the sky, whether it has lifted the sea into the sky.

In the sound of the rain, two sneaky people appeared on the street in the distance, and these two people looked at Zou Lao, and then walked over. Just when the two of them were still a hundred meters away from Zou Lao, they stretched out a pair of hands on the side of the street and dragged the two people in. With a silent burst of punches and kicks, the two men were knocked unconscious and placed in a corner, sitting there as if asleep.

Zou Lao in the distance didn't notice anything at all, and continued to thread the needle slowly and methodically. With yesterday's incident, Zou Lao decided to slow down the speed of making rain boots. He made the stitch lines as straight as possible, and at the same time added some lines, which felt more abstract, and people didn't like to understand them.

On the bamboo frame next to Zou Lao are two pairs of rain boots, one of which was made by the tall man yesterday, and the other is made this morning. Zou Lao put them together just to see if people had the heart to see what they could see.

Last night, Zou Lao carefully observed all night, and finally found the difference in countless similarities. If you can see this difference, there are several differences, and if you can't see it, there is no difference. The difference is the depth of the stitches, or the tightness.

According to the habit, Zou Lao has to pull hard a few times every time he wears the needle to make the thread tighter, so sometimes the force used is different, and the thread on the stitch is loose and tight, which is the so-called different shades. The rain boots made by Zou Lao himself are not the same in terms of the tightness of the stitches, while the tightness of the stitches on the rain boots made by the tall man is the same, so they look very neat, chaotic and orderly.

Some people like to walk in the rain, like to listen to the sound of the rain, feel the coolness of the rain, that sense of mystery and tranquility can only be experienced in the rain. No, there was a person who came over with an umbrella, idle, and he was in a very good mood and walked to the bamboo frame, picked up a rain boot and looked at it. He didn't plan to buy anything when he went out, so he didn't have much money with him, mainly to go out for a walk, and go back when his clothes were soaked.

The rain boots in his hand are Zou Lao's works, several circular patterns on it attract his attention, revealing a modern atmosphere, the materials of the rain boots are traditional leather materials, there is a layer of plush inside, the outer heel is very thick and hard, and the stitches on it are hand-sewn at a glance. He put down this rain boot, picked up the other one, and found the difference at a glance, feeling a machine breath, mainly because there are no flaws, even the stitches are the same flat, and the surface of the rain boots does not have the kind of finger pinched marks, smooth and flat, it feels like it was made with a machine.

Hey, let me ask, how much do these rain boots cost?

Show me?

Zou Lao took the rain boots in his hand, looked at them, and found that they were the one made by the tall man.

Oh, if you want to buy it, even if you have ten dollars, ten dollars a piece, eighteen or one pair.

Hey, you're such an interesting person, if I did, I'd buy one?

If you're buying it for the first time, it's a pair, and if you've ever bought one, you'll probably choose to buy one.

Yes, yes, well, it's raining a lot anyway, and my shoes are soaking wet, so I'll buy a pair.

As he spoke, he picked up another pair and was about to pay for it, when he was stopped by Zou Lao.

No, no, no, those pairs are fifty-one, ninety-one.

Hey, I said you, it's not very good for business to do this, you can't just increase the price when you see me want to buy it, right? Then I won't buy it.

No, no, no, you misunderstood, this pair is eighteen, that pair is ninety, it's not the same.

Oh? Why is the price still different? I think these two pairs are about the same!

Since you have said that it is almost the same, you must have seen something, and the difference in the price of these two pairs is because of those differences.

Okay, then I'll buy this pair of ninety.

Uh, you don't buy these cheap pairs?

Haha, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and the same pair of shoes, it must be expensive and of good quality.

Well, you have a point, too.

The cash that this person brought was not enough, so he directly scanned the code to pay, and then happily walked into the rain curtain wearing the rain boots made by Zou Laoxin.

Zou Lao looked at the person who was far away, he felt very interesting, he couldn't help but smile, and when he was about to bow his head and continue to catch up, a figure appeared in front of him. Zou Lao looked up and saw that it was the tall man.

It's you, how did you come back? I thought you were gone?

Yes, I was leaving, and I found that the spaceship had not been repaired, so I thought I would come and have a look.

Ha? Spaceship? Oh good, that ...... Then you come in and sit down, and drink tea, or not?

Just like yesterday.

Good.

Finish.